Better
['betə] or ['bɛtɚ]
Definition
(noun.) something superior in quality or condition or effect; 'a change for the better'.
(noun.) the superior one of two alternatives; 'chose the better of the two'.
(noun.) a superior person having claim to precedence; 'the common man has been kept in his place by his betters'.
(verb.) get better; 'The weather improved toward evening'.
(verb.) to make better; 'The editor improved the manuscript with his changes'.
(verb.) surpass in excellence; 'She bettered her own record'; 'break a record'.
(adj.) (comparative of `good') superior to another (of the same class or set or kind) in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability; more highly skilled than another; 'You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din'; 'a better coat'; 'a better type of car'; 'a suit with a better fit'; 'a better chance of success'; 'produced a better mousetrap'; 'she's better in math than in history' .
(adj.) (comparative of `good') changed for the better in health or fitness; 'her health is better now'; 'I feel better' .
(adj.) more than half; 'argued for the better part of an hour' .
(adj.) (comparative and superlative of `well') wiser or more advantageous and hence advisable; 'it would be better to speak to him'; 'the White House thought it best not to respond' .
(adv.) comparative of `well'; in a better or more excellent manner or more advantageously or attractively or to a greater degree etc.; 'She had never sung better'; 'a deed better left undone'; 'better suited to the job'.
(adv.) from a position of superiority or authority; 'father knows best'; 'I know better.'.
Checked by Flossie--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Having good qualities in a greater degree than another; as, a better man; a better physician; a better house; a better air.
(a.) Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect.
(a.) Greater in amount; larger; more.
(a.) Improved in health; less affected with disease; as, the patient is better.
(a.) More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject.
(n.) Advantage, superiority, or victory; -- usually with of; as, to get the better of an enemy.
(n.) One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; -- usually in the plural.
(compar.) In a superior or more excellent manner; with more skill and wisdom, courage, virtue, advantage, or success; as, Henry writes better than John; veterans fight better than recruits.
(compar.) More correctly or thoroughly.
(compar.) In a higher or greater degree; more; as, to love one better than another.
(compar.) More, in reference to value, distance, time, etc.; as, ten miles and better.
(a.) To improve or ameliorate; to increase the good qualities of.
(a.) To improve the condition of, morally, physically, financially, socially, or otherwise.
(a.) To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
(a.) To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
(v. i.) To become better; to improve.
(n.) One who bets or lays a wager.
Typist: Randall
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. More good, more excellent, good in a higher degree.[2]. More useful, more valuable.[3]. Preferable, more desirable, more acceptable.[4]. More fit, more appropriate, more suitable.[5]. Improved in health, less ill.[6]. More familiar, more intimate.
n. [1]. Superiority, advantage.[2]. Improvement, greater good.[3]. Superior.
ad. [1]. In a superior manner, in a more excellent way, more fully, more completely.[2]. With greater advantage, more usefully or profitably.[3]. More, in a higher degree.
v. a. Improve, amend, emend, meliorate, ameliorate, reform, make or render better.
Editor: Wallace
Definition
adj. (serves as comp. of Good) good in a greater degree: preferable: improved: more suitable: larger: kinder: stronger in health.—adv. (comp. of Well) well in a greater degree: more fully or completely: over or more than: with greater advantage: (pl.) superiors.—v.t. to make better (also reflexively to better one's self) to improve: to benefit: also with intransitive sense to grow better.—p.adjs. Bet′tered improved amended; Bet′tering improving.—ns. Bet′tering Bet′terment Bet′terness.—adj. Bet′termost.—Better half a jocose term for a wife once applied seriously to either wife or husband and even the soul as opposed to the body.—I had better = I should hold it better to—the original construction having been a dative pronoun.—To be better off to be in superior circumstances; To be better than one's self to do more than one had promised; To get the better of to gain the advantage over.
Typed by Bernadine
Examples
- He was undeniably a prosperous man, bore his drinking better than others bore their moderation, and, on the whole, flourished like the green bay-tree. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Perhaps you had better go after my friends at once, because the weather is warm, and I can not 'keep' long. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Better than he thought,--except the last clause. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- A departure was early made in the matter of strengthening the ribs of oak to better meet the strains from the rough seas. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- He gets worse instead of better, I think,' said the elder lady. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- I am much better here,' said Little Dorrit, faintly. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- They are very much better, John. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Some men, however, are decidedly bettered by being knocked down. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Guns were lightened and bettered in shape. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- A ball might have done for me in the course of the war, and may still, and how will Emmy be bettered by being left a beggar's widow? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Necessity, which spares our betters, has no pity on us. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I won't provoke my betters with knowledge, thank you. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- We are measurably superior to the French in some things, but they are immeasurably our betters in others. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- And we had such a lot of betters! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Even the common people, the severest critics of the conduct of their betters, had commiseration with the follies of Prior Aymer. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- For the first few days, I had no choice but to give way to my elders and betters; the patient steadily sinking all the time. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Nay, there are few, very few, who would not affect pride in the possession of what their betters have coveted in vain! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I have attempted to make my poor friend's loss of memory the means of bettering my acquaintance with you. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I hope we shall have a future opportunity of bettering our acquaintance, Mr. Hartright. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- May he never leave us but to better himself, and may his success among us be such as to render his bettering himself impossible! Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- And even now that Commodious is strangled, I don't see a way to our bettering ourselves. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Typed by Gladys